PREFACE. iii 



tions (with a single exception) have been prepared 

 expressly for this work, and (with very few exceptions) 

 have been drawn from nature or after the author's 

 sketches from nature. They are not only original — 

 many of them presenting subjects in natural history 

 that have never before been illustrated — but are cor- 

 rect, and, for the most part, artistic, although scientific 

 verity has been the chief aim. To Mr. Edward Shep- 

 pard and Mr. Frank Stout, who made the larger part 

 of the natural history drawings, especial recognition is 

 due. The admirable comical adaptations of Mr. Dan 

 Beard are, of course, sui ycneris, and are not without 

 real value in illustrating the text which they brighten 

 with the play of mirth. The absence of his skillful 

 hand from the closing chapters is owing to an accident 

 which threatened the loss of his eyesight, a calamity 

 that happily has been averted. 



In the belief that this book contains enough original 

 observations to make it valuable to working naturalists, 

 an index of the scientific matter has been prepared. 



Philadelphia, September, 1881, 



